


Home/Safe

by Solovei



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drabble, M/M, Not Shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 04:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4290867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solovei/pseuds/Solovei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When he was younger, he often made a game out of it, trying to see how long he could be quiet around his cousin until Onni lost his patience and asked Tuuri to come help.</i>
</p><p>Takes place immediately following <a href="http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=334">pg. 334</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Home/Safe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starfallz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfallz/gifts).



> Written for the super-amazing [starfallz](http://starfally.tumblr.com)'s birthday!  
> Thanks for Owl for beta-ing!

“Maybe. Kind of. One.” Lalli replied, looking at the water just beyond the rocky edge. He could feel Onni’s eyes on him, a look that he knew was both concerned and distant at once. Hopefully that answer would be enough not to prompt further questions, but he didn’t really think he would get so lucky. This is how it always was; Onni asked questions and Lalli chose to answer some of them, and that was how they interacted. When he was younger, he often made a game out of it, trying to see how long he could be quiet around his cousin until he lost his patience and asked Tuuri to come help. It came in handy later when he got old enough to scout by himself - the forest did not need his voice, only his eyes and his ears, and Lalli was good at using both of those.

“Yeah? What is this person like?” his cousin asked; luck was not on his side this week, it seemed. He knew what would happen now. Onni would say more things to get him to respond, and he always enjoyed those in his own way. “It’s not that redhead we just saw, is it? No, I don’t think that’s it…”

Lalli made an almost-frown; you had to give away a little to win the game, otherwise the other person would simply give up and walk away. In the ensuing silence, he wondered how he would describe Emil if he had to - because at some point, he knew, he would have to. Tuuri wasn’t here to weasel it out of him.

In Keuruu there were a few people he was friendly with; other scouts, mostly, since they kept the same hours. If they passed each other Lalli would give them a wave and smile faintly, and if they wanted to complain about something he would sit and listen because that is what you did when you were friends. These were friends of convenience; neither tried too hard to maintain these friendships outside of work. And then there was Emil, who seemed to actively make it his business to always be around Lalli whenever he could. He couldn’t think of any other time anyone had done that, not even Tuuri. Emil seemed to always be there, touching him and saying things in his weird sing-song language that he didn’t understand. Normally, he would be annoyed - and occasionally he was, like the time he had to jump out of a two-story window because the blonde idiot didn’t understand when people told him to follow. But… for all of that, when he thought of Emil, he smiled, just a little, in a way he knew Onni wouldn’t notice. He smiled when he thought of the way Emil clung onto him on the train, more scared than protective; his careful hands on his skin washing off the residue of this strange place, calling up memories of ‘home’ and ‘safe’  that he thought he had put away for good. And, surprising himself most of all, Lalli felt the need to reciprocate those small comforts, in a way he hadn’t before for anyone he considered a friend.

“Well? Tell me something, at least,” he heard finally. Lalli tilted his head slightly to look at Onni, the most inscrutable look in his half-lidded eyes.

“He’s a godless Swede and we’re getting married when we come back.”   
  
  
He stayed awake just long enough to see a most pure look of shock and horror come over the other’s face, and it pleased him greatly. 


End file.
